USAID cuts strings to Pakistan's Elmo

The famous “Sesame Street” character isn’t long for the airwaves in Pakistan, after USAID pulled funding on Tuesday for its $20 million Children’s Television Project, an official with the organization confirmed to POLITICO.

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The official said USAID cut its ties to the TV group in Pakistan after receiving a number of tips on an anonymous anti-fraud hotline about the misappropriation of U.S. funds.

Of the $20 million that had been pledged to the group, $6.7 million had been dispersed as of March 31, the USAID official said.

A Lahore-based group, the Rafi Peer Theatre Workshop, was responsible for creating the Sesame Street-type show and was the sole recipient of USAID funding. It was working in collaboration with Sesame Street in the United States.

A representative of Sesame Workshop, the American company that produces Sesame Street and worked with the RPTW to produce the show - called “Sim Sim Hamara” - said they were “surprised and dismayed to learn about the serious allegations made against Rafi Peer Theatre Workshop.”

The company left the door open for continued work in Pakistan, however, saying, “It is our hope that the achievements of Sim Sim Hamara, and the gains we have made in the lives of children in Pakistan, will carry on. … Sesame Workshop will continue to work to improve the lives and futures of children in Pakistan and elsewhere around the world.”

The show, which featured Elmo and a cast of new puppets, premiered in December and was scheduled to run for at least three seasons before the U.S. ended the funding.

The halt of American funds was first reported by Pakistan Today, which cited “severe” irregularities in the accounting for American aid that had already been delivered.